I am holding, All ya all responsible

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Hey Guys I need some advise,

First off, do you clean the inside out down to the shinny metal?

I have a 17" replacement charcoal grate for a 22.5" Weber. I also have a 24 x 24 piece of expanded metal.

My question is: would a 8" high fuel basket be enough for all night smokes IE: butts, brisket and armadillo?

Last but not lest (for now that is) I have seen pics of many of y'all builds with what looks to be decals, I am just thinking ahead and would like to make my UDS purdy looking.

What kind of decals do you use that will stand up to the heat?

Thanks in advance,

PaPaGrizz
 
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This is the charcoal baskets I make for my cookers.  I use (2) 12x24" sheets formed into half circles and tack weld them together and then to the grate.  The legs are 2" lengths of spare rebar.  This basket usually gets me 16-18hr of cooking.

I use magnets on my cookers.  They won't melt as long as you keep your temps reasonable (under 600) which I think we all strive for anyway.  

Build looks great!!
 
Hey thanks for the reply Razor,

I am trying to work with what I have on hand, and was wondering if  8" high x 53" circumference would provide a all night er.

My charcoal grate is 17" in diameter so my circumference would be 17 x 3.14 = 53.38", so if I cut my 24"x24" expanded metal into 3 8"  pieces I will be able to make my basket. Sorry if my question was vague..

Thanks again.
 
Well I am still looking for some answers, but I am going to continue with the build.

I have it primed and ready for a test a test run.

I have some Kingsford Charcoal to season and hopefully dial this in and cook a fatty or two...!

Any who, if you see the post I made about, decals or stencils, please PM me or post a reply.

Here's the vid part 3:

 
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looks like your coming along good i have had my uds two seaons im thinking of cutting a door in the side of it so i can access the fire basket with out taking the lid off and removing what ever im cooking has anyone tried a door with good or bad results ???
 
Hey stiltan,

Thanks for the encouragement.

I'm no expert on these things so I can't give a good answer on adding a door, but I'm sure the Pro's will chime in soon.

I got the grill grate (weber) that has the flip up sides to I can add some wood if I need to..

Seasoning the UDS as I type and will update soon.
 
UDS is starting to come along great! When I painted mine I took it down to shiny metal and primed, then painted it with 5 coats of high heat paint.The finished product was nice and smooth. I seasoned the inside 3 times before I did any smoking. Mine is electric and all the fat and juice collects in the drip pan at the bottom. I only have to clean the drip pan and the barrell has a great seasoning on it after all the smoking I did over the holidays!
 
Hey thanks for the reply Jalan43,

I have been seasoning the UDS for about 12 hours now and it is holding about 237-256 degrees. I guess I might might have conquered the beast.

I reckon I will have to do different setting when the temperature, weather changes, but that's part of the fun. Going to let it run all night and see what happens in the morning.

I am impressed it has maintained this temp for 12 hours with approx 10 pounds of Kingsford. Going to cook 2 Fatties tomorrow and will update the process when I can.

Thanks one and all for turning me on to this, and doing it the right way. There was a time I was going to make a smoker out of a galvanized garbage can, and now I know that that would have been a "Big Mistake".

I still would like to get an MES, but I think, just like firearms...you can never have too many smokers
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Thanks again and I will put up a Q-view when done, because I know how y'all think ..
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Take care,

PaPaGrizz
 
Great videos

I was lucky and got a MES as a gift for doing a project for a friend.  Never had a smoker before, started looking at web sites and that got me interested in UDS projects.

The MES works well, I can see doing BBQ cooks on both, probably the quick ones on the MES.

Smoking cheese on a Weber Smoky Joe with a Amazen dust smoker right now seems to work great.

Regards

Pat
 
[h2]Up Date 4[/h2]
Saturday, Starting to fire up the UDS to season it.

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After about 3 min with all four intakes open, it jumped to about  325 degrees.

I shut down 2 intakes and kept it between 320 and 325 for about 2 hours, my thinking was this will speed up the process. (Sorry for the fuzzy pics)

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Shut down all but the ball valve and kept it at around 250 for the next 7-8 hours.

It ran between 225 and 260 for the next 3 hours with just a little babysitting
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All in all I ran it for 12 hours before I went to bed and stopped monitoring it.

Not sure how long it ran after that, but in the morning all that was left was a well seasoned smoker and ash in the catcher.

Tomorrow I will do my first cook...

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[h2]The big day!   Using Apple wood and Hickory for the Fatties[/h2]
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Took the lid off to get a shot after about an hour and Yikes...smoke smoke smoke!
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Got it settled down, but I think next time I am smokin' with bacon, I will use a baffle between the basket and the food, I think there was too much due to the bacon grease dripping on the coals and it was over powering the smoke from my flavor wood.

What do you all think?

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Taylor all set up. I am going to be saving my pennies and dimes to get a Maverick...

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Well here is the outcome. Not too bad, I was a bit disappointed with the smoke flavor due to what I think was the bacon grease....but my Niece, her Husband and most importantly my bride liked it

(Man I need to get a better camera!)

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Menu:

Two fatties, stuffed with: bacon, red,yellow, and green peppers, baby spinach, Papa's' Stuff rub, Sweet Baby Rays BB-Q sauce with some honey and brown sugar added.

Sweet Tater fries.

Smoked Garlic bread and Baked beans, Papa's style.

Thanks for the help and all the contributions in this forum that made this possible.

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See ya all Later...
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Thanks for the reply Pat,

I reckon this is a dead thread...
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No feedback from the other members, makes me think I should not put the effort into making the vids or pics.

I hope y'all don't get me wrong, I am not looking for praise or a banner, I was just hoping for some constructive criticism.

Anyhow, I will continue to keep on keeping on, until I am told not to.

I would like to give back as much as I have taken from all the knowledge on this forum.

Love, Peace, and Chicken Grease!

PaPa, out
 
Great thread man!  I loved the vids.  So did you figure out what to do about the bacon drippings?  Add a catch pan for it or something?  Just wondering for future reference....gonna be putting a UDS together soon.

Funny side story, that Sealection 500 barrel brings back memories, as I sprayed that insulation for about 3 years before the economy tanked and construction biz fell flat here (Orlando).  I threw away more of those barrels than I can imagine hahaa.  Good to know I can use them if I run into anyone still doing the foam thing locally.  Later!
 
Great thread man!  I loved the vids.  So did you figure out what to do about the bacon drippings?  Add a catch pan for it or something?  Just wondering for future reference....gonna be putting a UDS together soon.

Funny side story, that Sealection 500 barrel brings back memories, as I sprayed that insulation for about 3 years before the economy tanked and construction biz fell flat here (Orlando).  I threw away more of those barrels than I can imagine hahaa.  Good to know I can use them if I run into anyone still doing the foam thing locally.  Later!
Hey Whiskeyfoot,

Thanks for the reply.

I put another grate in about 7-8 inches below my cooking grate, on top of that I have a have a clay flower pot bottom wrapped in tin foil. This worked great! I just use it when cooking with bacon and I get more flavor from the apple and hickory wood that I use.

I didn't use it when I did my chucky as I like the flavor of the beef dripping on the oak.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/118449/operation-chucky

Thanks,

PaPaGrizz
 
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